Joanna muses

Book review: David Platt- Radical Together

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:53:00 +0000

Radical Together: Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God
David Platt
Buy this book

In Radical Together, David Platt teaches on how entire churches can live radically for God’s glory.

I had been a bit frustrated by his previous book Radical which covers many of the same themes. I felt that it risked getting people excited on their own about being radical and as a result rushing out to do things for God without necessarily receiving wise council about whether their plans were suitable for them and likely to be helpful. In Radical Together, there was a strong emphasis on the importance of sacrificial living as an endeavor for the whole Christian community and our need for each other which I think should help check any tendency towards rash individual action without watering down the call to radical living.

Another area where this book improves on radical is having a stronger emphasis on being saved by grace. I felt at times Radical (almost certainly unintentionally) communicated that the Christian life was primarily about what we do rather than what Jesus has done. In Radical Together, Platt is a lot more clear about the idea that good works don’t make us Christian, but that being saved should motivate us to do good.

Also valuable in this book is Platt’s attempts to get people to question the necessity of fancy buildings or programs for Christian outreach and discipleship. I think this is a helpful question to raise as we often seem to assume such things are required rather than considering whether a change of emphasis or direction would be appropriate.

Overall, I think this is a helpful, challenging book that is bound to make you think about how you are living out your faith.

Review copy courtesy of Multnomah Books

13 things I learned on a mission trip

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:48:00 +0000

I recently went on a missions trip where we ran a summer holiday outreach program for children and teens in a seaside town. Having never been involved in a mission like this one before, I assumed that working with teenagers wouldn’t be that challenging because there isn’t as much age difference as when working with children and because teens programs don’t involve as much singing and dancing as children's programs. I now know better! I really enjoyed myself but it was also at times a challenging and humbling experience. Here is an assortment of things I learned:

No-one is too old for playdough. What was meant to be a short activity involving some playdough turned into a whole session of the teens excitedly coming up with creative things to make.
Sometimes the full impact of what we do can take a while to be obvious. On multiple occasions we met parents who had attended the program as children, remembered it fondly and were now sending their own children along. People involved in the mission during the 80’s probably weren’t thinking that their willingness to serve would mean that children who wouldn’t be born for another 20 years would one day get the chance to hear about Jesus.
Given a chance, teenage boys will mix and consume almost any food or drink combination possible.
Duct tape solves a lot of problems.
Prayer makes a difference. I was maybe a bit lazier about praying while on mission than I should have been. Times when I did make an effort to pray, I tended to notice an improvement in how well things worked and how receptive the teens were.
Pancakes are better when made with excessive amounts of neon food colouring. Neon pancake mix also makes an impressive looking mess when spilt. See the picture at the bottom of the post.
That throwing things indoors can be a bad idea is not nearly as obvious as it seems.
Good things can come out of failed plans. I am by nature a bit of an over-planner so found having things not work to plan a bit challenging sometimes. While derailed plans were sometimes frustrating and humbling, God is bigger than them. Some of the best activities and spiritual discussions happened when our original plans weren’t working and we had to make stuff up on the spot.
Strange things start to become funny when you have a bunch of somewhat sleep deprived people working closely together for 10 days.
Teenagers are often more willing to accept a copy of the bible you offer them than you might expect.
Children's program music is often absurdly catchy and unusually difficult to dislodge from your brain.
You can’t force meaningful conversations. Sometimes when we had planned what seemed liked good discussion starters, talk stayed very shallow. Sometimes meaningful conversations came seemingly out of nowhere while doing other things.
A little encouragement from those you are serving with can make a big difference. I’m thankful for team members who took the time to be encouraging even though they had a lot to think about and be doing.

The neon pancakes

Most popular posts of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:58:00 +0000

I realise best of 2011 are so last week but since I was on a mission trip until Thursday and have been recovering since then, I'll just have to be a bit late on this one. The following lists are based on number of page views.

Musings posts
1.Moving on from the gospel
2.When you don't know what to pray
3.God isn't a vending machine
4.How do you know God loves you?
5. Taking comfort in God's knowledge of our flaws

Book reviews
1.Theresa Flores- The slave across the street
2.David Platt- Radical
3.C. J. Mahaney et al.- Worldliness
4.Thom and Jess Rainer- The millennials
5.John Piper- Bloodlines

Thanks for your support over the past year! I look forward to bringing you more posts in 2012.

The adventures continue: Mission trip #2

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 11:09:00 +0000

Tomorrow I start my second mission trip for the summer!

It is a tradition for many Australian families to go camping by the beach for a week or two every summer. Many go back to the same place every year, some even keep taking their kids where they went when they were a child. Beach mission programs like the one I am involved in reach out to children and families at these holiday destinations by running programs that are fun but also give the children and teens participating a chance to learn about the gospel. I'm working with teenagers.

This is my first time being involved in a program like this. I'm excited but a little nervous. I would really appreciate your prayers as I participate. Things to pray for include safety (particularly to do with the large amounts of driving I have to do in a car I'm not used to), that we would be able to effectively reach out to the children and teens who come along, good health and that relationships among the team would remain positive despite the intensity of the program.

I'll be keeping pretty busy on mission so probably won't be blogging. I might also be a bit slower at replying to comments but I do love hearing from you. Normal blogging will resume sometime after my return on 5th January.

Book review: Carolyn Weber- Surprised by Oxford

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:27:00 +0000

Surprised by Oxford
Carolyn Weber
Buy this book

In Surprised by Oxford, Carolyn Weber tells the story of how she found love and faith while a studying literature at Oxford University.

Surprised by Oxford is a really well written book. Carolyn has an incredible gift for describing people, places and situations in a way that is beautiful and draws you into the story. Her descriptions of Oxford made me wish I could go there! Her deep love for literature is shown through her brilliant turns of phrase and extensive but not gratuitous quotations from many books and poets.

The book is not just great style but has impressive substance too. Arriving at Oxford a non-believer, experiences she had while at university caused her to wrestle with questions of faith and eventually become a Christian. She shares much of that journey in the book, including some of the influential conversations she had in the process of coming to faith. She works through an impressive breadth and depth of topics. She also shares about her trials and progress as a young Christian trying to make sense of newly discovered realities, something I found quite moving. Woven throughout the book is also the lovely story of how she fell in love with a man she met at Oxford.

Surprised by Oxford has been one of my favourite books that I have read this year, both due to the beautiful writing and its profound reflections on faith.

Review copy provided by Book Sneeze

Book review: Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira- Grumble Hallelujah

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 13:38:00 +0000

Grumble Hallelujah
Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira

In Grumble Hallelujah, Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira shares what she has learned about worshipping God and loving life even when disappointing or frustrating things happen.

This is one of those books that left me wondering if she had somehow been listening to how I think and pray sometimes! What she said about facing disappointment as a Christian certainly rang true. In the book is brutally honest about her struggles to deal with disappointment. She goes onto talk about how to handle disappointment well. I appreciated that she didn’t advocate possitive thinking influenced attempts to pretend things don’t hurt, instead she acknowledged the legitimacy of feeling and expressing disappointment. Nor does the book veer off the other side of spectrum into a pity party. She gives some good advice on dealing with issues like jealousy, doubt, shame and bad attitudes towards God. I also found some of the prayers at the end of each chapter helpful in starting to pray about things I’d felt but hadn’t quite had the words to articulate.

I’ve tended to think that in the Christian community we often don’t have a clear idea of how to go about dealing helpfully with circumstances that aren’t in the realm of tragedy or serious suffering but are nonetheless disappointing. I think this book does a good job at addressing that gap in our understanding of the Christian life. It is definitely a book I will be coming back to.

Review copy courtesy of Tyndale Publishers

What I learned talking to strangers + summer adventures update

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:04:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I blogged about the crazy assortment of things I was about to embark on. I figured I should check back in to report on progress. I finished my thesis, survived moving house and managed to pass my driving test, something I suspect involved divine intervention. In the last two and a half weeks I have presented at an academic conference, attended a Christian conference and gone on a mission trip. I considered doing the maths on the number of talks I heard between the three activities but decided working that out would probably make my head hurt! There is so much I could say about it all. God was very gracious in making all the logistical stuff come together even better than I originally planned. I plan to post a bit more reflecting on what I learned and how I've seen God at work in the coming weeks. Hopefully the talks from National Training Event (the Christian conference) will be online soon and I will be able to share them with you.

One thing that stood out to me, particularly in the ministry activities, was the stories I heard. I heard some at mission but even more at the Christian conference. The conference dining hall was very large so most of the time you would end up sitting and talking with strangers rather than friends. People would also strike up conversations while waiting for sessions to start and a few were given the chance to share in sessions. Something about the conference environment got people asking good questions and telling good stories. I heard so many interesting stories- stories of how God led people to faith using all sorts of means and circumstances , stories about the trials and joys of different sorts of ministry, stories about the challenges of growing in faith and reaching out in places as diverse as Tonga, Japan, Sydney and Slovenia. It seemed like pretty much everyone had an interesting story to tell of something big or small God was doing. It was so encouraging.

Hearing all these stories made me wonder what we are missing in our churches and communities by not hearing that many stories of God at work. I don't just mean stories of how people got saved (although those are fantastic), but stories of how God is at work right now and what people are learning. I wonder what we are missing out on by assuming we know peoples stories or never bothering to ask? I wonder what we would learn or how we would be encouraged if we made a habit of taking an active interest in what God is doing in peoples lives? What fascinating stories might people tell if only we would ask?

Next up is my second mission trip for the month, starting just after Christmas. It is longer and probably more intense than the mission trips I've done before. It will also have me working with teenagers, a group I don't have much experience with. It is exciting but a bit a bit intimidating. I plan to write a bit more about that before I go.

Resource roundup: Christmas music

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 13:26:00 +0000

If you've been shopping any time lately you've quite likely heard some terrible recordings of Christmas music. It is amazing how badly it is possible to ruin perfectly good songs. Thankfully there is good Christmas music out there. Even better, you don't have to spend much (or in some cases anything) to get it.

My favoute Christmas album is Love Shall Be Our Token by High Street Hymns. You can download the whole album for whatever you want to pay (minimum US$1) Instrumental tracks are also available. The sheet music is free at their website.

Quite a few great artists have also been putting out Christmas music on noisetrade. All the music on noisetrade is free, but you can make a donation to the artist if you want to. Some I've enjoyed are

Sojourn
Aaron Ivey
Rebekah Antoine
Nathan Tasker
Culby X

Sleeping at last

If you have any other suggestions for good free or cheap Christmas music, please post them in the comments.

Book review: Robert Bogh- When the bottom drops out

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:07:00 +0000

When the Bottom Drops Out: Finding Grace in the Depths of Disappointment
Robert Bugh
Buy this book

In When The Bottom Drops Out, Robert Bugh teaches Christians how to think about and work through grief and serious disappointments.

One of the things that makes this book work so well is that it isn’t just theoretical knowledge about the topic but that what he teaches has been learned from his experience of his best friend and his wife dying. His reflections on these events are really moving. It also serves to demonstrate well why having good theology matters in practice.

What he shares of his personal story is complimented by extensive teaching from the bible about suffering. He shows how God is good and at work in the severe suffering of a number of biblical characters. He also addresses some misconceptions Christians have about suffering. I was particularly glad to read his arguments from the bible against prosperity gospel approaches to dealing with suffering as these are popular but can do immense harm.

Even if you are not suffering right now I think this is still a valuable book to read. It will help you have a good framework for when bad things happen in the future. It will also probably be helpful in learning how to be sensitive to those who suffer. He provides some hints based on what was helpful and unhelpful in his own experience.

The only critique I would make is that some of the retelling of the author’s story were a bit longer than they probably need to be, particularly towards the start of the book.

Overall, I thought it was a helpful and well written book that many will find quite helpful.

Review copy courtesy of christianaudio.com

Dealing with disappointment

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:01:00 +0000

Disappointment is a rather unfortunate fact of life. Sometimes it stems from the little things we would have liked to be different. Sometimes it comes from the pain of something deeply longed for not coming to pass. Sometimes it happens when we loose something good. Whatever the cause, it can be challenging to deal with it in a healthy way.

This week I was reading the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1. I think she has a lot to teach us about dealing with disappointment. I’ve found her example really helpful as I work through some disappointment of my own. Hannah was deeply disappointed because wanted children but was unable to have them. To make matters worse she had a bully in her household who cruelly mocked her pain and a husband who loved her but failed somewhat at sensitivity and tact. Pointing out how blessed she was to have him as a husband was probably not that helpful!

There is a number of things it would have been tempting for Hannah to do. She could have gotten angry with her bully or husband. She could have turned from God. She could have gotten bitter and complained to everyone about her situation. She could have followed her husbands suggestion and tried to pretend she had nothing to be sad about. We don’t have record of her doing any of those things.

Instead she took it to God is prayer. These weren’t nice, polite, disinterested prayers. We are told she wept bitterly in public. Someone watching her pray thought she must have been drunk! It would have had to have been some pretty intense praying for it to be confused with drunkenness!

I think her example here is incredibly freeing. If we are disappointed, we can be honest with God about it. We don’t need to bury our disappointment under attempts to act pious. While thinking positive is sometimes somewhat helpful, faith doesn’t require we pretend that we don’t have anything to be disappointed about. We can tell God exactly how we feel about the way things have turned out. We can cry if we need to. We can plead with him to change things. It is a lesson we also see in other sections of the bible such as Habakkuk.

Hannah also provided a good example in how she acted after she had poured her heart out for God. We read about how she was worshiped God, even prior to her prayers being answered. It is easy to worship when our prayers are answered and things are going well. It can feel like a bit of a stretch to worship while we wait for God to fix what we are disappointed about or when facing disappointments related to things that can’t be changed or fixed. Choosing to worship God even when we really don’t feel like it can help strengthen our faith and help correct our perspective if we are sinking into bad bad attitudes. More importantly, our choice to worship honours God.

God did answer the prayers Hannah prayed while disappointed and blessed her with a child. Regardless of whether our prayers get answered the way we hope, her example of passionate honesty with God and choosing to worship can help us journey well through disappointment.

Featured song: Katie Herzig- Free my mind

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:27:00 +0000

Book review: Reggie Dabbs with John Driver- Reggie

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:11:00 +0000

Reggie
Reggie Dabbs with John Driver
Buy this book

In Reggie, Reggie Dabbs tells of how with God’s help he overcame his broken background to become someone impacting young people around the world.

His story is certainly a profoundly inspiring one. The difference between the situation he was born into and where his is now is astonishing. I had heard bits and pieces of his story in his preaching before but enjoyed reading it in more detail. I could see this book being very encouraging to young people wondering if it is possible to find their way out of the struggles they find themselves in.

Reggie writes with a quite conversational style. The style didn’t overly appeal to me, however I could see how it might appeal to younger readers who are more within his target audience. At times some of the writing felt a bit too dramatic or too strongly designed to promote an emotional response. This particularly stood out to me in the first few pages of chapter one.

I was curious to see how well the gospel was explained in this book as he had not done this particularly well in some sermons I had heard from him previously. It takes until a fair way into the book for him to get to much substantial biblical content. Once he does, his success at dealing with it is mixed. The gospel is not at all well explained before readers are provided with a suggested prayer to commit themselves to Jesus on page 77. In the last few pages of the book the gospel is explained with greater clarity.

His use of other biblical texts tended to suffer from a bit too much paraphrasing. It doesn’t help that he sometimes doesn’t make it clear where he is paraphrasing from, making it harder to look up the stories he was talking about. I was also uncertain of his application of some texts. This was particularly the case with his use of Hosea as being a metaphor for individuals running away from God. I was of the understanding that Hosea was about God’s people as a group rejecting him.

While his story is inspiring and worth reading, I would be someone hesitant to recommend the book due to the issues with how the bible is used in it.

Review copy provided by booksneeze.com

How do you know God loves you?

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:39:00 +0000

As Christians we know God loves us. It is pretty basic theology. Chances are you learned it pretty early in your time at Sunday school or introductory bible study group. However, I think it is not just important that you know God loves you, but also how you know that is true.

What is it that you can point to and say “This is what shows that God loves me.”?

It is tempting to point at some kind of blessing you have received. Because he loves us God may sometimes bless us in various ways. This might take the form of material provision, thriving relationships, pleasant experiences or many other good gifts. We should be thankful for these things.

However, these things are not the best indicators that God loves us for us to cling to. They are way too subjective and temporary for that. Possessions break, relationships sometimes fail and bad things happen. We will always be able to point to someone who seems more blessed than us. It can get very tempting to think that God therefore loves them more than he loves us. Likewise, going through painful experiences or having something you deeply desire withheld from you will make you question God’s love if you are looking to blessings as a sign of his love for you. I have found myself guilty of both recently.

So what should we look to to know that God loves us?

“...God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8)

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16)

In Jesus’ death on the cross, God’s love for us was conclusively proved. We don’t need to grasp at other, lesser evidences. We don’t need to worry about not being loved by him or loosing his love. The proof of the cross stands regardless of whatever may happen to us or whatever we may lack. It is fact regardless of how we feel. God showed us his love through the cross while we were still sinners and if we sin again that demonstration of love is still extended to us. Nothing can separate us from his love. (Romans 8:38-9).

You don’t need to doubt God’s love for you. Look to the cross and know that you are loved.

Book review: Tony Reinke- Lit!: A Christian Guide to Reading Books

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:01:00 +0000

Lit!: A Christian Guide to Reading Books
Tony Reinke
Buy this book

In Lit!, Tony Reinke explains the benefits for Christians of reading a wide variety of books and how to read in a way that yields the most benefit.

You are probably wondering why we need a book on reading books. I was pleasantly surprised by how much there was to say on the topic. He covers a diversity of reading related topics varying from how the gospel shapes how we think about reading to how to pick what to read to how to helpfully write and highlight in books.

I’d never really thought that much about how a Christian world view might shape how and what we read so his discussion on this was useful. I appreciate the emphasis on the benefits of reading fiction and books that aren’t “Christian”. He does a good job of explaining the benefits of both, why Christians should not feel confined to literature written by Christians and how to read discerningly. Also particularly worth pondering is the chapter on the impact of the internet and technology on how we read, although I’m not sure I agree with his conclusions on e-readers.

The book should be helpful for people ranging from those who barely read to dedicated book worms. The chapters are quite short so it shouldn’t be too intimating for those who don’t read much. Not everything in this book will be useful for everyone. For example, those who love reading could probably skip some of the earlier chapters on the benefits of reading. The chapters are structured in such a way that you probably wouldn’t lose too much by not reading them in order.

I recommend this book. Reading it is worth your time because it will likely help make the rest of the reading you do more fruitful.

Review copy courtesy of Crossway and NetGalley

Featured song: Brooke Fraser- Lifeline

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 11:58:00 +0000

Quotable: Friendship

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 06:12:00 +0000

"Friendship is acting out God’s love for people in tangible ways. We were made to represent the love of God in each other’s lives, so that each person we walk through life with has a more profound sense of God’s love for them. Friendship is an opportunity to act on God’s behalf in the lives of the people that we’re close to, reminding each other who God is. When we do the hard, intimate work of friendship, we bring a little more of the divine into daily life. We get to remind one another about the bigger, more beautiful picture that we can’t always see from where we are."

From Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist

Longing for that day

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 12:28:00 +0000

Over the past few months I found myself waiting much longer than would be normal and than I expected to find out an important bit of information that has a massive impact upon my plans for the future. Discussing this situation with my friend while rather tired I said something to the effect of “I think God is trying to teach me trust or patience or something this semester. I wish he’d just hurry up and finish!” My friend made the most reasonable response to an outburst like that and laughed at me. Telling God to hurry up and teach me patience proves how very far I have to go.

As silly as this outburst was, I think the sentiment underlying it is a common one. We want God to just fix us. We want our spiritual breakthroughs straight away. We want to be sanctified on the spot. We want to be made holy without any hassle.

Lately I’ve kept coming back to Philippians 1:6- “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” . I’ve blogged about it before. Most of my pondering on the verse have been focused on the fact that God will bring to completion what he is doing. Today I was thinking about the time frame it gives for that happening. The time frame is not months or years or when we manage some level of spiritual effort. The time frame for when God will finish his work in us is when Jesus comes back.

That means that until Jesus comes back we will still be in progress. Certainly we should hope to make some progress in sanctification and some areas will likely become much less of an issue but in this life we will not arrive at fully holy. As long as we are here we will keep struggling. Theoretically God could zap us now so that we never struggled with the slightest sin again. In his wisdom he has decided to not make things work that way. It certainly is frustrating sometimes to be stuck waiting for the day when all things, us included, will be made perfect. We need to let that frustration drive us not to give up but to long for that day and to cooperate with God’s work in our life to make us more and more like him.

Featured song: Breanne Düren- Catapult

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 11:04:00 +0000

Taking a break from the serious music this week for something fun. You can download the whole EP for free from the widget below.

Upcoming adventures

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 07:31:00 +0000

Life is about to get pretty crazy for me.

Two weeks from tomorrow I hand in the thesis I've been working on this year. There is still a huge amount of editing to do which is rather stressful. In the next three months, I'll be finishing my time at university, moving house, hopefully getting my drivers licence, presenting at an academic conference in another state, probably writing for an academic journal, attending a Christian conference, preparing for and going on two short mission trips, and possibly still be hunting for a job. Also in the mix is Christmas and writing more of my book. All this is spread out across three states and at least six towns and cities. It's exciting but rather overwhelming! It will certainly be a summer to remember!

There are two reasons I'm posting all this. One is to let you all know that due to the chaos, posting here might become a bit more irregular. I'll be doing my best to keep regular posts happening, but can't guarantee that will happen in the busy periods. If the blog does go a bit quiet for a while, rest assured it will be back.

The other reason is to ask for prayer. I would really appreciate prayer for good health, mental clarity, energy and that the logistics of making all those things happen would come together. Some of what I am doing is packed quite tightly together so there isn't room for me or any of the plans to fall apart.

Thanks for your support!

Quotable: Without the gospel

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 06:33:00 +0000

Without the gospel
everything is useless and vain;

without the gospel
we are not Christians;

without the gospel
all riches is poverty,
all wisdom, folly before God;
strength is weakness, and
all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God.

But by the knowledge of the gospel we are made
children of God,
brothers of Jesus Christ,
fellow townsmen with the saints,
citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven,
heirs of God with Jesus Christ,

by whom
the poor are made rich,
the weak strong,
the fools wise,
the sinners justified,
the desolate comforted,
the doubting sure, and
slaves free.

The gospel is the Word of life.

- John Calvin

Featured song: Redemption Hill Music- The solid rock

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:14:00 +0000

The Solid Rock from Redemption Hill on Vimeo.

Download for free here

Loving the truth about God

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 13:39:00 +0000

Up until quite recently I’d never taken much notice of the book of Jonah. Maybe I was looking at it as a Sunday school book. Jonah getting swallowed by the whale does make quite a good story to tell in Sunday school but I discovered as we discussed the book at church camp that there is things for adults to learn from it too. What I want to focus on here is towards the end of the book. At this point in the story, Jonah’s mission to Ninevah has been what most people would call a massive success. All of Ninevah has repented in pretty dramatic fashion and God has spared them his punishment. Then we read this:

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." (Jonah 4:1-3)

The thing I had pointed out to me from this section that I found thought provoking was that Jonah does and says stupid things despite appearing to have a decent theological understanding. He has a pretty accurate grasp on God’s what God is like- he talks about God’s grace, mercy, love and slowness to get angry. Elsewhere in the book he talks about salvation belonging to God (Jonah 2:9) and acknowledges God as creator (Jonah 1:9). These are really important things for Jonah to know but knowing them was not enough. Part of what seems to have caused Jonah’s problems is that Jonah did not love the things he knows about God. Instead the truth about God frustrates him badly. He wanted God to be different. He would have rather God be quick to get angry (at other people of course) and wishes God wasn’t quite so merciful. Because he wasn’t happy about these things, he rebelled.

While we probably don’t usually throw such epic temper tantrums about the things we don’t like about God, the same problem can exist. It doesn’t matter how loudly we confess the truth, if we wish it wasn’t true it will come out in our behavior. At some point, our flesh will find something about God’s character to object to. If you don’t like that God is sovereign and you are not, you’ll probably get bitter when things don’t turn out the way you want. If like Jonah, you are unimpressed that God chooses loves people you don’t like, chances are you aren’t going to reach out to them very well. If you get frustrated that God chooses to bless people you don’t think are deserving, you probably have a bad attitude about God’s grace.

As we learn things about God or remember things we know, we need to watch how our hearts react. If the reaction isn’t good, that needs dealing with. The most important thing we can do is to ask for God’s help. I’m sure help with changing our hearts is the kind of prayer God would love to answer! We can also choose not to focus on how something about how God works gets in the way of us getting what we want. We can choose to retrain our minds by thanking God for various aspects of his character. Whatever it takes to make sure we don’t just believe the truth about God but love it too.

Encouragement from Habakkuk

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 12:44:00 +0000

One of the sections of the bible I’ve been studying lately is the book of Habakkuk. I’ve been finding it quite encouraging. It is admittedly a somewhat strange book to find encouraging. That’s partly because it is relatively obscure. It’s a short book (only 3 chapters), is tucked away towards the back of the old testament and doesn’t get taught on often. However, it is more a strange book to find encouragement from due to some of the content. God tells Habakkuk how things are about to turn really ugly because of the impending invasion of a powerful and nasty neighboring nation. Sounds depressing right? However, there are a few things that are far from depressing.

One of these things is Habakkuk’s honesty. While it is quite obvious in the book that Habakkuk is devout, he is also brutally honest with God. The book opens with Habakkuk questioning why God is allowing the negative things he sees happening around him. He is frustrated with God and it shows! He asks why God doesn’t appear to be listening or answering. God then gives him an answer. Rather than being satisfied, he gets started on another round of quite blunt questions and expressions of frustration. God addresses these questions too. God doesn’t get angry at Habakkuk for asking in ether round of questioning.

This should be really encouraging and freeing to us when we pray. While certainly we should remember who we are talking to and not be unnecessarily flippant or rude, Habakkuk shows us that God can take our honesty. We don’t have to make our prayers pretty and pious sounding. We don’t have to pretend everything is wonderful if it isn’t. We can say what we are thinking and feeling. We can tell God our frustrations and question why he has let things happen. He is big enough to handle that. He won’t always give us the answer we want, but nonetheless, he listens and takes seriously our prayers.

Another thing that is encouraging in Habakkuk is how he chooses to respond to the news of the bad things that are about to happen to his country. The book concludes with the following:

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights. (Habakkuk 3:17-19a)

I think he provides a wonderful example of how it is possible to to respond to bad things happening. He doesn’t try to pretend that things really aren’t that bad. Instead, he acknowledges that things are indeed bad and decides to fix his eyes on God. Rather than surrendering to despair, he deliberately chooses to be joyful in God. That isn’t an easy decision to make and follow through on sometimes! He also acknowledges that the strength he needs comes from God rather than himself. That is a humbling but freeing thing to confess.

I encourage you to go read Habakkuk for yourself. There’s a lot we can learn from him.

Quotable: Study as an act of love

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 04:03:00 +0000

"Careful study is necessary. Without study, spirituality becomes sappy. Without spirituality, study becomes self-indulgent. And without the two walking together, prayer ends up limping along in sighs and stutters. Exegesis is necessary because we have a written word to attend to. It's God's Word, or so we believe, and we had better get it right. Exegesis is foundational to Christian spirituality. Foundations disappear from view as a building is constructed, but if the builders don't build a solid foundation, the building doesn't last long. Too many Bible readers assume that exegesis is what you do after you've learned Greek and Hebrew. That's simply not true. Exegesis is nothing more than a careful and loving reading of the text in our mother tongue. Greek and Hebrew are well worth learning, but if you haven't had the privilege, settle for English. Once we learn to love this text and bring a disciplined intelligence to it, we won't be far behind the very best Greek and Hebrew scholars. Appreciate the learned Scripture scholars, but don't be intimidated by them. Exegesis is the furthest thing from an impersonal act of scholarship; it is an intensely personal act of love. It loves the one who speaks the words enough to want to get them right. Exegesis is loving God enough to stop and listen carefully to what he says. It follows that we bring the leisure and attentiveness of lovers to this text, cherishing every comma and semicolon, relishing the oddness of this preposition, delighting in the surprising placement of this noun. Lovers don't take a quick look, get a "message" or a "meaning," and then run off and talk endlessly with their friends about how they feel."

From the book The Invitation: A Simple Guide to the Bible by by Eugene H. Peterson

God isn't a vending machine

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 15:18:00 +0000

One of the things I’ve been working on in my spare time is a writing project on the strange side of the Christian subculture when it comes to dating and singleness. I may eventually turn it into a book if I can find enough to say. One of the sections I’ve been working on lately is on questionable advice for finding a partner. A common sentiment out there I deal with in it is the idea that God will send along a partner as soon as you become fully content in God and with being single. Although there is some quite severe flaws in using contentment as a tool to get something, sometimes the logic is tempting.

It is tempting to think that we can do the right things and God will come through with giving us what we want. It seems like a relatively easy and very neat solution to our perceived problems.This doesn’t just apply when it comes to finding a partner. It might take the form of “give lots of money and God will bless you materially” or “Be really holy and God will heal you.” or “be dedicated to serving God and he will make sure everything works out”.

Contentment, giving, holiness and serving are all wonderful things and all Christians should be striving to improve at them. However, God is not a vending machine and those things are not coins. We don’t get to insert our goodness and have what we want appear.There isn’t an chart out there that lists the behaviors or states of perfection at the achievement of which God will automatically dispense what we want.

Rather than being a vending machine, God is a good father who gives good gifts. (see Matthew 7:9-11). He only gives us what will be for our good. Kids I know who have gotten pretty much everything they asked for from their parents have ended up pretty messed up. God is a better father than to let that happen to us. As is often the case with kids, we often get confused and a bit grumpy that we aren’t being given the really great seeming thing we’ve asked for. We can’t always see his perspective on what’s good. The things he gives us are also gifts. We can’t earn them or deserve them. Even if we could reach the unachievable standard of perfection we would only be mustering what would be an entirely reasonable response to a holy, loving and good God. Our salvation and any other good thing God chooses to give us are gracious, undeserved gifts.

It is usually insulting to try to pay someone for a gift they have given you. Instead of petty and fruitless attempts to earn stuff from God, we should be living a life of thankful worship to God. We trust him to give us what we need not because we deserve it for being holy but because he is our father seeking our good.